BUENA PARK A man has been arrested after police say DNA linked him to the sexual assault and killing of a young woman more than two decades ago.

Gehmine "Janine" Lynette Chandler was found strangled in the front bedroom of her father's Buena Park house on Jan. 12, 1988.

Jane Faraci, left, mother of Gehmine Chandler who was murdered in 1988 fights back tears as Buena Park chief of police Corey Sainez speaks to the media during a press conference to announce the arrest of a suspect, Daniel Edward McDermott, 43, of New Mexico, who has been charged with strangling Gehmine Janine Lynette Chandler, then 18 in 1988.

SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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"As you can tell, I've never done this before," Chandler's mother Jane Faraci said at a news conference Thursday, "but for her, I would do anything. Every Christmas, every holiday you just get her pictures out and wish she was here."

She was 18, slender, attractive, outgoing and according to news accounts more interested in becoming a model than graduating from high school.

Chandler had been living in her father's house in the 8700 block of Vestavia Avenue, near the Los Coyotes Country Club, for about two weeks and planned to move back to Texas, where her mother lived. Her car was parked outside, crammed with her belongings.

Witnesses told police that she had relaxed in a hot tub that evening, taken a shower and gone to bed. Her father, Timothy Edward Patraw, found her body the next morning, cold to the touch with bruises on her neck.

Buena Park police detectives quickly cleared Patraw.

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DNA leads to arrest in 1988 Buena Park killing